'American Horror Story' Review: A Carnival Of Sex, Ghosts And Crazy

Characters should know by now that moving into a Victorian house whose former owners died by murder-suicide, is a bad idea.

In "American Horror Story," a new show on FX, the Harmons, Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton), and Violet (Taissa Farmiga), have moved into such a house in L.A. to get away from their problems on the other coast. Guess what? It's haunted.

The show deals with classic horror tropes: The haunted house, the ghostly maid, and creepy murdered redhead twins, all make an appearance in the first episode. It mainly concerns itself, however, with parading disturbing imagery across the screen, at an absurdity level dialed to extreme. It's a dark and stylish vision, perked up with moments of biting humor and gratuitous nudity.

Though he's best known for "Glee," Ryan Murphy's has always been interested in human cruelty. "American Horror Story" takes up the psychosexual carnival that "Nip/Tuck" left behind and adds ghosts. Example: A scene in which Ben walks in on shapeshifting ghost-maid Moira masturbating in a chair before running away to jerk off and cry.

Murphy's backlist is not especially supernatural, but he has always shown a keen appreciation of the human monster. "Nip/Tuck," which started off with penis-less serial killer/rapists and breast implants full of heroine, managed, by the end of its run, to get even crazier. Neo-nazis, bloodthirsty transsexuals and all kinds of body-disturbed plastic surgery patients studded the show from front to back.

The pileup of zany plot twists is a gloriously demented ride, though it doesn't make much sense. If you're looking for sympathetic characters facing believable problems, this is not your show.

"American Horror Story" gives Murphy the chance to present real freaks, and not just ones born out of the excesses of contemporary culture. Dennis O'Hare plays an ex-murderer with burns on 70 percent of his body, while Evan Peters gives us a spooky teenage sociopath who may or may not be a paranormal apparition. Jessica Lange is in top psycho-biddy form as a klepto neighbor with a Virginia drawl and a perverse glint in her eye.

But, as usual, the brunt of Murphy's emotional tortures are visited upon his main characters, the Harmon family. Ben is a psychiatrist (meaning, I hope, that we get some weird consultations in the manner of "Nip/Tuck") whose infidelity is exposed just before Vivien stillbirths at seven months. Vivien is shaky, sardonic and bruised, while Violet is a self-cutting teenage misfit who misses the East Coast. The pilot begins to torment them with hallucinatory visions of blood and sex, but we can also probably expect that these three will do a great deal to torment each other all on their own.

"American Horror Story" raises a lot of questions -- Is the house haunted? Why? Who are all these zany people and what do they want? But the answers don't look as if they'll matter much, other than as vehicles with which to unveil more ghouls, more sex, and more madness.

Watch the trailer for "American Horror Story" below:

Comments

[Earfling]

07:56 PM on 11/13/2011

Warped and silly. And not in a good way, either.

[DanielleRoyster]

10:25 AM on 10/26/2011

I LOVE the show and I’ve been raving and recommending that people check it out because it’s well worth it. I think people are crazy to pass up the show and I know DIRECTV customers are upset because they can’t watch it right now due to the FOX negotiations. I empathize with customers because I’ve seen both spectrums of the scale considering I was a DISH Network customer and employee when this happened around the same time last year but it was all worth it. DISH fought for it’s customers and eventually came to a long term agreement with FOX that allowed me to keep my channels without paying an arm and a leg for it.

[MarkBraun]

10:39 PM on 10/22/2011

I had to laugh at your review as much as I chuckled through the first 2 episodes of AMERICAN HORROR STORY. I see dead people; I see Kubrick, I see Lynch, and I hear these lifted osundtracks that added more Aye-yi-yi than Yikes.

They're trying their damnest, but like the overly idiotic WALKING DEAD, logic is certainly lacking in both of these dopey rehashes. BTW, when running from zombies, just wait til rigor mortus sets in; in a haunted house that neighbors drop in on more often then a Seinfeld apartment scene, uhm, duh, install better locks.

[lobur8]

10:58 PM on 10/13/2011

Love the show! I think its my new favorite show right now.

[wrlord2001]

11:04 AM on 10/12/2011

If you're going to be a reporter, even an entertainment reporter, you're going to need to learn the rules of English grammar.

[Bor Zoi]

06:38 PM on 10/09/2011

Saw the first episode.
It had the feel of a show that has a good pilot, but weak staying power.

Also, it was the standard offering by basic cable for paint-by-number edgy:
- gratuitous masturbation (Somebody shave Dylan McDermott)
- sex gimp (Undead sex gimp. Great band name; scary, not so much.)
- period / mood piece (1st: stop with the Mad Men copycats; 2nd: Mad Men isn't that good.)
- developmentally stunted child as the harbinger of doom (not very new)
- succubus (Please, somebody shave McDermott --> Who showers in a sweater?)

[The Grouch]

04:14 PM on 10/13/2011

What's with these shaving demands? Must every modern male be a metrosexual pansy?

[DingoBuzzy]

01:21 AM on 10/23/2011

Please tell me you're not saying that Dylan McDermott is anything but?

[Joseph Kostenko]

08:49 PM on 10/08/2011

My wife loved it. I liked it, but not as much as I might have. I find horror to be much more effective when it's subtle. This was so overt and over the top as to not be scary. Creepy, yes, but not scary. And don't you think, regarless if you went there for drugs or not, if your face is slashed open - that you're going to have some 'splaining to do? And might not the police be involved? We'll keep going, I think it has potential, but it needs to calm down and not try to throw every horror meme at the screen to see what sticks.

[Shanahan Harding]

08:40 PM on 10/08/2011

I saw it on VOD- I must of missed the nudity. I do admit I didn't watch that closely because I figured the cute dog of the family would quickly be killed off. I hate it when supposed disturbing/scary stories do that for a cheap grab at the audience's emotions.
From what I did see-it seemed as if the episode tried to fit in loads of exposition into a short time with the use of messy editing.
Will watch some more episodes just to see if it gets better.

[Tonya Cox Willis]

12:27 PM on 10/08/2011

Time will tell if the story telling holds up but the first Ep certainly got my attention.

[Gohatto]

05:25 PM on 10/07/2011

Hey, I liked it. I think we will be taken on a real freaky ride. Jessica Lange is just over the top...and her talking about her daughter is very off putting but it is cool to see they are not afraid to push the boundries. We are so afraid of being pc it takes the edge off of some brilliant concepts.

[anwe]

10:43 AM on 10/07/2011

It was odd for sure... I wanted more scare and less sex.

[tktrinity]

10:09 PM on 10/06/2011

I couldn't finish it. The overt sexuality was annoying, but tolerable. However, the horrible way Jessica Lang's character talked about her daughter with Down Syndrome was completely and utterly off putting. It sucks, because I was really really looking forward to it.

[PubicOption]

10:50 PM on 11/16/2011

Agreed. Put if you get to episode 5 or 6, the child passes away and we are shown that Lange's character really loved her daughter. It is expressed via a seance were she communicates w/ the daughter, and the daughter forgives her.

I agree it was uncomfortable to watch, esp if you know someone w/ Down's. Tasteless perhaps, but then again there are probably ppl out there who can relate....

[Peace Walker]

10:03 PM on 10/06/2011

Just so you know, we did this before. It was called "Dark Shadows" (1966 - 71) RIP

[Dirk Dachs]

09:59 PM on 10/06/2011

Dylan McDermott or Dermot Mulroney? Now it no longer matters ... http://placeitonluckydan.com/2011/02/dylan-mcdermott-dermot-mulroney-agree-to-be-same-person/

[Tanjji White]

08:08 PM on 10/06/2011

I don't want to watch it again. Where is the horror? It is all about sex.